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Barriers to learning, whether physical or economic need to be torn down - John O'Dowd

Nelson Mandela famously said, “Education is the
greatest weapon which you can choose to change the world”

It is an honour to be Minister of Education in
the Executive and to play a part in changing the world of children, families
and communities.

I wish to pay tribute to all those who play
their part in education on a daily basis across the island of Ireland but
particularly in the North.

All those who work in education and contribute
positively to the educational wellbeing of our young people are changing the
world day-by-day, child by child.

Good education is central to the success of any
economy and society. Citizens afforded the right to access high quality
education, will repay society over and over again.

But the most important reason for good
education is self-fulfilment, the fulfilment of every human being’s hunger for
knowledge.

Every citizen has that right and every citizen
must have access to good education to achieve everything they can be and more.

In the North for too long education was only
for the few, once broken down on crude religious lines and then as sinisterly,
on socio-economic lines.

The practice of Academic Selection is not an
educational question. It is an equality question. You are either for equality
or you are not?

Another equality issue is the stark fact that a
child from a socially disadvantaged background is half as likely to succeed in
education as one who is not.

When high concentrations of children from
socially deprived backgrounds are concentrated in one school the effects are
exasperated.

That cruel equation is recognised as a reality
in both national and international studies.

I as Education Minister can ignore it and hope
it will go away on its own or I can do something tangible about it.

The harsh reality of inequality is this - it
doesn’t go away on its own, you have to eradicate inequality.

Through the Common Funding Formula I have
committed to significantly increase funding to schools with high levels of
social deprivation to assist in the eradication of inequality.

I will issue my final decision in a
number of weeks, and the objective of tackling this need will remain.

I can also confirm that no school will lose
funding in the first year of the changes and any loses thereafter will be
minimal.

With a limited budget I firmly believe that
targeting resources toward areas of most need is justifiable, educationally
defensible and within my duties under the Executive’s Programme
for Government.

The Irish Language sector continues to thrive
in the North.

I and previous Sinn Féin education ministers
have and will continue to work with those committed to delivering high quality
Irish medium education.

The number of pupils attending Irish medium
schools has doubled in a decade to 4267, there are 29 stand-alone schools and
ten units, with capital investment of 14m in this last 2 years.

Following decades of discrimination by Unionist
and British governments, Sinn Féin have brought the sector into the heart of
the Education system reversing and eradicating decades of discrimination.

In conclusion I want to welcome the news reports that Dublin City University and
Trinity College are actively reviewing how they award points to Northern
students who apply to their institutions. This will be good news for many young
people north of the border.

I have raised this issue at North South
Ministerial Council meetings and my officials have been actively engaged in
seeking a solution with their Dublin counterparts.

I can see no reason why pupils from the north
should face barriers to pursuing their studies in this way.

I hope that this will encourage other
universities in the south to follow suit and implement a solution that will not
only help young people from the north, but that will also benefit the
institutions themselves.

Barriers to learning, whether physical or
economic need to be torn down if we are to truly change the world through
education.